Glenbard South shows it can win a close game
Close games haven't been kind to Glenbard South's boys basketball team.
Tuesday night, however, was a completely different story.
The Raiders surrendered a second-half lead but took over in overtime to beat Timothy Christian 60-52 in their Metro Suburban Conference crossover in Glen Ellyn.
Junior Tim Marks has struggled with injuries all season, but he came off the bench with some huge minutes in the fourth quarter and overtime. After tying the game with a bucket in the final half minute of regulation, Marks scored 6 points and grabbed 6 rebounds to lead the Raiders in the extra period.
"I thought we got a little fire under ourselves going into overtime," Marks said. "Historically we've had a lot of close games with this team, and I thought we stayed really composed. I thought we executed pretty well and hit some big shots down the line."
Glenbard South (6-10) took a 35-25 lead on Kyle Carli's third 3-pointer of the game in the opening minutes of the third quarter, but the Trojans (8-9) spent the rest of that period and much of the fourth quarter rallying. Ben Lodewyk scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter before Joe Bishop scored and Robert McGivney hit a free throw with 4:06 left in regulation to tie it at 46-46.
Both teams went scoreless for the next three minutes. Mitch Evenhouse scored to give Timothy Christian its first lead since the final two minutes of the first quarter, but Marks answered with about 25 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Povilas Riauba set the tone in overtime with a three-point play for the Raiders. Evenhouse hit a free throw to narrow the gap to 51-49 but Marks scored 6 straight points, including a three-point play to put Glenbard South ahead 57-49 with 46 seconds left.
"We had an opportunity to win with the ball at the end," said Trojans coach Jack LeGrand, whose team missed two shots in the waning seconds of regulation. "We had a chance, we've just got to finish. I thought our guys did a real nice job of fighting back. That was encouraging."
Riauba led a balanced effort with 13 points for the Raiders, who played without starters Billy and Charlie Bair. Tyler Scott and Marks added 10 points apiece. McGivney scored 13 points for the Trojans.
Six of Glenbard South's 10 losses have been by 5 points or fewer. Tuesday's win, meanwhile, was the Raiders' closest of the season.
"It's been a process all season long," said Raiders coach Wade Hardtke. "In overtime we were able to kind of gain our composure again and get control of the game again."
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